ON SAINT DAMIAN, SOLDIER AND MARTYR IN AFRICA.
CommentaryDamian, Soldier, Martyr in Africa (Saint)
I. B.
[1] That Damian, a soldier, obtained the laurel of martyrdom in Africa is celebrated by the published Bede, Ado, Notker, Whether he suffered at Alexandria or in Africa is doubtful. Maurolycus, Galesin, and the Roman Martyrology; but not by Usuard, as Baronius cites him, but by certain interpolated copies of Usuard. The Martyrology of Saint Jerome, however, reads thus: "At Alexandria, the birthday of Damian the soldier, and of the infants Modestus, Ammon, Zoticus, and Cyriacus." The Reichenau manuscript: "At Alexandria, Damian the Martyr, Modestus, and Ammon." On the other hand, the Martyrology of Rabanus (because, as I think, the scribe omitted the place name, or did not punctuate properly) appears to place the infants also in Africa: "In Africa," it says, "the passion of Damian the soldier, and of the infants Modestus and Ammon." Canisius in the German Martyrology calls him Daminianus; the manuscript Martyrology of the Carmel in Cologne calls him Domitian.
[2] Tamayo Salazar judges this Damian to be the same whose body, exhumed from the cemetery of Callistus, Was he buried in the cemetery of Callistus? has recently been transferred to Salamanca -- without adducing any argument by which it might be proved, even by the lightest conjecture, that the body of that Saint Damian was brought from Africa or Alexandria to Rome and deposited in the cemetery of Callistus. We therefore consider them different, and shall treat of the latter separately on this day. Of neither, however, is the time or manner of martyrdom ascertained.
ON SAINT DAMIAN, ROMAN MARTYR, AT SALAMANCA IN SPAIN.
CommentaryDamian, Roman Martyr, at Salamanca in Spain (Saint)
I. B.
[1] There exists on the Appian Way the ancient and noble cemetery called the Cemetery of Callistus, which was restored by Pope Saint Callistus, who held the see in the third century after the Incarnation of Christ; From the cemetery of Saint Callistus and was originally constructed (as is believed) by Saint Lucina, a disciple of the Apostles. From it, in our own time, the bodies of very many ancient Martyrs have been exhumed and donated to various churches, even outside Italy.
[2] The body of Saint Damian was exhumed. Among these was the body of Saint Damian the Martyr, which, extracted from the said cemetery by the authority of Urban VIII, Supreme Pontiff, was on January 9, 1640, donated by John Baptist de Alteriis, Bishop of Camerino and acting Vicar of the Most Eminent City of Rome, to the Reverend Father Brother John of the Annunciation, Procurator General in the Roman Curia of the Discalced Brethren of the Most Holy Order of the Trinity for the Redemption of Captives, together with other relics of Saints; with permission granted to transmit or transport them from the City, to donate them to others, and to display them in churches so that they might be devoutly venerated by the faithful. Tamayo Salazar recites in the Spanish Martyrology the public documents of the donation.
[3] That body of Saint Damian was sent by the same Procurator General to Spain, And sent to Salamanca. and deposited in the Salamancan college of the Brethren of the same Order, as the same Tamayo attests. He judges him to be the same Damian the soldier whom we previously listed as crowned with martyrdom in Africa. The remains of many saints were indeed formerly carried to Rome; But not of Damian, the African soldier. but that this happened to Damian cannot be solidly enough proved from the similarity of the name, without any testimony of any writer. We therefore determine them to be different, until something certain to the contrary is established from another source.